Meaning & use
tracksuit
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Meanings
nouncountable
A loose two-piece outfit, made of a jacket and trousers in soft fabric, worn for exercise or for relaxing.
Grammar: Singular even though it has two parts: a tracksuit, two tracksuits.
Patterns
- wear a tracksuit
- in a tracksuit
- a tracksuit top
He went for a run in a grey tracksuit.
She wore her tracksuit all weekend and never left the house.
The team arrived at the stadium in matching blue tracksuits.
nouncountableinformalBritish
A type of casual clothing that, in British slang, is linked to a certain youth style and sometimes used to judge people.
Grammar: Often appears in the compound tracksuit bottoms or in disapproving remarks.
Patterns
- tracksuit bottoms
- a tracksuit top
He answered the door in his tracksuit bottoms.
Some restaurants once refused guests dressed in a tracksuit.
The coach handed out tracksuit tops to the whole squad.
Word forms
| plural | tracksuits |
|---|
Common combinations
- wear a tracksuit
- Most of the players wear a tracksuit before the match.
- a tracksuit top
- She zipped up her tracksuit top.
- tracksuit bottoms
- He changed into tracksuit bottoms after work.
- in a tracksuit
- They were out jogging in tracksuits.
- a velour tracksuit
- His mother gave him a velour tracksuit.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sweatsuit
- Sweatsuit is the common American word and usually describes a heavier cotton outfit.
- jogging suit
- Jogging suit stresses running and can sound a little old-fashioned.
- warm-up suit
- Warm-up suit is used for what athletes wear before and after competing, so it is narrower than tracksuit.
Word family
Commonly confused: tracksuit or track suit?
tracksuit vs track suit
Written as two words it is a variant spelling, but one word is standard.
Practice
Which person is most likely to be wearing a tracksuit?
Choose one answer.
A tracksuit is casual sports clothing, so it fits a warming-up runner. The other settings usually require formal or uniform clothing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tracksuit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.